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The Vienna Summit Experience, Historiography, Historical Ideas, Context,…
The Vienna Summit Experience
Themes
The problem of one Summit but different agendas
Summit meetings were an important political tool in the 2oth Century but it was important that everyone involved knew what they were trying to achieve....
Personalities can get in the way of politics
Summit meetings are not only a meeting of minds, their effectiveness often depends on the characters and personalities of those involved.
The dangers of polarisation
The polarisation that was a key aspect of the Cold War made it more difficult for summit meetings to get past the Us and Them mentality ....
Can you win a political summit?
Political summits are by nature competitive events, which means there must be winners and losers ... ....
Summits are high stakes events
Summit meetings were an important feature of international politics in the 20th Century but there was always the danger that if things went wrong there could be significant consequences ...
"Got it wrong" - one or both sides?
"it" - what each side wanted ( their agenda)
"it" - each others personalities
Lack of understanding
poor communication
not enough info about each other
Historiography
What do we know now that we didn't know then?
JFK
medical condition
NK
"not the same man he was in 1952"
Presentism - judging past events from a current viewpoint eg the failure of Communism!
No longer demonising the opponents - heros and villians
Did the Cold War end in 1991?
USA as the world's sheriff
Historical Ideas
Polarisation
Lack of empathy
Constructed Narratives
Presentism
Cause and Effect
Context
Domestic Imperatives
Modernising the USSR - De-Stalinisation
Need to show strength to the USA
The inexperience of JFK
Competing factions eg the Military
Cold War
The state of play
The Berlin Question
most pressing for USSR
stand off situation
Commitment to MAD
arms race
The Space Race
USSR is seen to be winning
The Paris Summit
Showing strength to the Non Aligned - the world is watching
Characters
John F Kennedy
Points of View
specific issues - Berlin
youthful perspective
Attitudes
confident people person
Beliefs
Sense of Destiny?
time is limited
Nikita Khruschev
Points of View
specific issues eg Berlin
older perspective
Attitudes
great communicator
Beliefs
Sense of Destiny?